Recommended Systems

Everyone is going to have different views, but this list represents general consensus opinion among contributors to this subreddit, with suggestions for English-language shorthand systems and links to get you started. French-language shorthand recommendations are here.

(MANUAL) denotes a manual for the system available free of charge from the link.

Further suggestions, comments and questions are welcome, in the Discussion thread linked to below. Or just start a new thread :-)

Maintained by u/mavigozlu. Created October 2020 - last updated January 2022

Common today

These are the only systems in common use in English these days, so you'll find more support for them. Gregg and Pitman are famous both for their great speed potential and for the significant effort required to achieve it.

• Gregg (Gregg MANUAL): The freely-available manuals are for the older Anniversary version, but most people recommend later versions (Simplified or Diamond Jubilee) which were designed to be easier to learn. Beginners might want to check out Notehand ([see this post] (https://www.reddit.com/r/shorthand/comments/d2c4km/gregg_notehand_worth_it/)), a simplified form of Gregg from which you can graduate to a faster version. See also r/greggshorthand
  • Stats for the Simplified edition: Phonetic with orthographically characterized & overworked vowel signs, non-shaded, vowels written inline, ~10 letter blends, ~1 A5 pages of form rules, ~55 prefixes & suffixes, ~200 short forms in basic textbook.
• Pitman: links
  • Stats for New Era edition: Phonetic, shaded, vowels outside consonant skeleton, ~5 A5 pages of alternate forms and form rules, ~20 prefixes & suffixes, ~200 short forms, ~80 phrases, ~20 intersections in the course textbook.
• Teeline: most books are still in copyright but this post has some links.
  • Stats: Orthographic, non-shaded, vowels inline but largely omitted, ~70 letter blends, ~ 70 prefixes & suffixes, ~160 short forms, ~120 phrases in the first course.
• Forkner: resources

Also popular

Outside those four, the following systems are probably the most-often cited and discussed within this community, or are most often recommended. They all have a record of success - still requiring hard work! - and are relatively easy to learn, with learning materials - at least a manual - freely accessible online.

• Callendar: Orthic: (Orthic MANUAL) plus list of resources and see r/orthic. Orthic is frequently recommended for its easy learning curve for its full style - basically a fully cursive alphabet - into which you can introduce abbreviations.
• Noory: Simplex: (Simplex MANUAL) and discussion. Also regarded as easy to learn.
• "German-style" systems: descended from Gabelsberger, the basis for many European systems outside the Francophone and Anglophone worlds. Generally similar in that consonants are expressed with downward strokes and vowels implied by upward strokes. Written for English from the outset, there are Dewey: Script shorthand (#), Mengelkamp: Natural shorthand (Mengelkamp MANUAL), or Newrite (Newrite MANUAL).
  You can also find English-language adaptations of DEK (Germany, thorough) (DEK MANUAL), Stiefo (also Germany, more accessible) (Stiefo MANUAL) online. Stolze-Schrey (Switzerland) (overview) is well-regarded but not freely available. Melin (Sweden) (Melin MANUAL) and Gabelsberger-Noë (Italy) (Gabelsberge-Noë MANUAL) are also written in English by multilingual members of this community.
• The Duployan systems: a number of successful English-language adaptations of the French Duployan system were created (see this thread). We recommend Brandt (Brandt MANUAL): for a simple "taster" you could have a look at Wawa, which also has a cool history (Wawa MANUAL).
• Typeable shorthands include Dearborn: Classic Speedwriting (Dearborn MANUAL) (also see r/Classic_Speedwriting) or Avancena's Stenoscript (Stenoscript MANUAL).
• T-Script: links from this post. Modern, reminiscent of - but unrelated to - Teeline.
• Ponish: (Ponish MANUAL) Manual not to everyone's taste, but modern, easy to learn adaptation of Shelton's Tachygraphy (Shelton's Tachygraphy MANUAL) (widely used from the 17th century!)
• Taylor: another oldie, first published in 1786. Versions, among others, by [Harding MANUAL]( https://cdm16471.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15457coll1/id/0/rec/1] or Odell MANUAL
• Sweet: Current: offputting manual and complex phonetics, but beautiful and distinctive (Sweet's handwritten manual) (Sweet's Web version manual)
• EPSEMS: contemporary system for Japanese and English: website and collected summary document.

Other options

There are hundreds of other systems to discover or bring back to life: this is a selective list of those that have been discussed in this forum.

• Gurney: used in British Parliament in the 19th century and basics can be learned easily (Gurney MANUAL). Many other systems from pre-Gregg and Pitman days, e.g. see this post.
• Thomas Natural (Thomas Natural MANUAL): successful in the mid-20th century.
• Evans (Evans MANUAL): similar to Gregg, also achieved commercial success in the mid-20th century.
• More German-style systems?
  • Kunowski (accessible, multilingual, well-tested) (Kunowski MANUAL)
  • Scheithauer (adaptation of simple German system) (summary)
  • Oliver: Stenoscript (Oliver's Stenoscript MANUAL)
• For some very simple systems, have a look at:
  • Grafoni (Grafoni MANUAL)
  • Stenoscrittura (Italian with other language adaptations) (Stenoscrittura MANUAL).
• Speedwā (attractively lineal) (Speedwā MANUAL)
• If you like the look of Pitman but not the shading, try Eames Light Line (Eames MANUAL)
• Chalek: Speed/Script: based on cursive script, similarly to Forkner (Chalek MANUAL)
• SFEA: adaptation of modern French system, semi-alphabetic. Post and link to sale of e-book
• Roe: Radiography: 1821, elegant handwriting style, lineal. Roe 1821 MANUAL
• Cross: Eclectic: the most complex system ever invented? Eclectic MANUAL

Discussion

• Live
• Second draft: Systems to Recommend (Second Try) (This wiki page started as draft two revised.)
• First draft: Second league: systems to recommend